Nick Cave Biography
Nicholas Edward Cave, 22 September 1957, Warracknabeal, Victoria, Australia. After the Birthday Party disbanded, the enigmatic vocalist Nick Cave retained his association with Berlin by teaming up with ex-Einstürzende Neubauten member Blixa Bargeld (b. Christian Emmerich, 12 January 1959, West Berlin, Germany; guitar), together with ex-Magazine personnel Barry Adamson (b. 11 June 1958, Moss Side, Manchester, England; bass) and former Birthday Party multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey (b. Michael John Harvey, 29 September 1958, Rochester, Victoria, Australia), and Hugo Race (guitar), who became the Bad Seeds. Their 1984 debut album, From Her To Eternity, was accompanied by a startling rendition of the Elvis Presley classic "In The Ghetto", and showed that Cave had lost none of his passion or ability to inject dramatic tension into his music. The title track was co-written by Cave's then girlfriend Anita Lane. Minus Race, The Firstborn Is Dead followed a year later, promoted by the excellent "Tupelo", but the Bad Seeds really made their mark with the cover versions set Kicking Against The Pricks. Released in the summer of 1986, the album was bolstered by the UK Independent number 1, "The Singer' (written by Johnny Cash and Charlie Daniels). The album marked the debut of drummer Thomas Wydler (b. 9 October 1959, Zurich, Switzerland) and also featured contributions from Hugo Race, Dawn Cave (violin), and former Birthday Party members Rowland S. Howard (guitar) and Tracy Pew (bass). Cave had always drawn from a variety of sources, from Captain Beefheart to delta blues, and the Bad Seeds' material betrayed a claustrophobic, swamp-like aura. Although purely cover versions, Kicking Against The Pricks fully displayed his abilities as an original interpreter of other artists" material. The subsequent Your Funeral ... My Trial emphasized the power of Cave's self-penned compositions, with improved production giving his vocals added clarity.
A brief hiatus from recording meant it was two years before Cave returned, by which time Adamson had left the Bad Seeds and new members Kid Congo Powers (b. Brian Tristan, 1960, Los Angeles, California, USA; guitar) and Roland Wolf (d. 1995; keyboards) had been added to the line-up. The new material was worth the wait. "The Mercy Seat" was a taut, brooding example of Cave's ability to build a story, followed by the milder "Deanna', which still contained considerable menace in its lyric. Both elements were present on 1988"s Tender Prey, as well as a more melodious approach to both his song constructions and singing voice. "The Ship Song", released in February 1990, continued Cave's exploration of the more traditional ballad, and was followed by another strong album, The Good Son, in April (by this time Wolf had departed the line-up.) This accentuated several themes previously explored, notably spirituality and mortality, aided by the introduction of strings. The notably more mellow tone was attributed to Cave's new relationship with Brazilian stylist Viviene Carniero. Cave's literary aspirations had already been given an outlet by Black Spring Press in 1989, who published his first novel, And The Ass Saw The Angel, which drew upon the religious themes of his solo albums (the title of the book was drawn from the Old Testament's Book Of Numbers). He also appeared alongside the Bad Seeds in the Wim Wenders' movie Wings Of Desire, following it with a powerful performance as a prison inmate in the Australian production Ghosts ... Of The Civil Dead. Cave also wrote the screenplay for this acclaimed film. Still prolific on the music side, Cave recruited new Bad Seeds Martyn P. Casey (b. Perth, Australia; bass, ex-Triffids) and Conway Savage (b. 27 July 1960, Australia; keyboards) and recorded the comparatively pedestrian Henry's Dream in 1992. It was followed by a live collection and contributions to the soundtrack of Wenders' Faraway, So Close! The brooding, self-obsessed Let Love In was recorded during an increasingly turbulent period in Cave's personal life, but was one of his finest releases, with tracks including "Do You Love Me?", "Loverman" and "Red Right Hand" quickly becoming favourites. In 1995, Cave (with the Dirty Three) provided a live soundtrack to Carl Dreyer's 1928 silent classic La Passion De Jeanne d'Arc, while an unlikely musical coupling with pop starlet Kylie Minogue on "Where The Wild Roses Grow' proved to be a commercial success in the UK charts. This in turn spawned 1996"s Murder Ballads, a misguided concept album that revelled in tales about crimes of passion and killing sprees. Further additions to the Bad Seeds line-up in the 90s included Jim Sclavunos (b. New York City, New York, USA; percussion, who made his debut on Murder Ballads) and Dirty Three violinist Warren Ellis (b. 1965, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia). In 1997 Cave released another excellent album, The Boatman's Call, featuring instant classics such as the opening track "Into My Arms" ("I don't believe in an interventionist god/But I know, darling, that you do/But if I did I would kneel down and ask Him/Not to intervene when it came to you") and the beautiful "West Country Girl" (allegedly concerning his relationship with UK artist PJ Harvey). Sounding deeply introspective yet never mundane, Cave came over like a cross between Tom Waits and a depressed Leonard Cohen. Following the release of the album Cave took an extended hiatus from recording to address his complicated personal life, cleaning up his drug habit and concentrating on raising his twin sons. A compilation set neatly summarised his career up to this point, and during this period Cave also wrote the foreword to the Canongate publication of the Gospel According To Mark. Cave's next release No More Shall We Part marked an impressive return to music in 2001, although some long-term fans were alienated by the extensive use of piano throughout the album. Cave's more direct lyrical approach also eschewed the mythic and literary references of his earlier work. The follow-up Nocturama was less essential although Cave showed his muse was still firmly intact on "Bring It On" (a duet with Chris Bailey of the Saints) and the 15-minute, 43 verse closing track "Babe, I'm On Fire". In a burst of creativity, Cave returned barely a year later with two separate albums packaged as one set, Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus. Aided by the London Community Gospel Choir and a Bad Seeds line-up featuring former Gallon Drunk frontman James Johnston (b. 1966, England; organ/guitar) but minus the long-serving Blixa Bargeld, Cave's creative muse returned in full splendour on what was rightly hailed as one of the finest releases of his career. Cave's next project saw him writing the screenplay for the Australian Western The Proposition. He also composed and recorded the soundtrack to the film with Warren Ellis. The two men also composed the music for the 2007 film adaptation of Ron Hansen's novel The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. Cave, Ellis, Casey and Sclavunos then branched out with the garage rock side project Grinderman. In October 2007, Cave was inducted into the Australian Music Hall Of Fame. The following year's Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! continued the artist's fine run of recent albums, with the influence of Grinderman's churning garage rock sound apparent on several tracks.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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